R. P. wrote:
> "jim beam" <nospam@example.net> wrote:
>
>> no kidding. my intro to safe working practices was coming home one
>> day to find my father crushed under a car. he'd been working under it
>> supported only by a jack, wheels off, no stands and the jack failed.
>> he got away with broken ribs, but he was lucky i came home when i did.
>> that's one of the reasons i like ramps - the wheels /have/ to stay on
>> the car and in the worst of all possible worlds, that limits the
>> extent to which the vehicle can drop.
>
>
> Oh man, that story sounds like a nightmare! I wish home garages were
> built the way I've seen them in Europe: with a kind of trench you see in
> these quick lube shops that are normally covered but come real handy to
> work under the car without all the extra hardware and extra time one
> needs here in a typical garage to create the necessary clearance under
> the car. Now that you guys confirmed my suspicion about the difficulty
> of changing oil myself, I think I'll stick to having it done at my
> dealer as before. But my next car will have to have an easier way to do
> the oil change.
>
> Rudy

didn't mean to frighten you! if you take the right precautions, there
are many advantages to doing the oil yourself, the main one being that
you make sure it's done right. last time a had my oil changed by the
honda dealer, they had their most junior tech do it. he didn't do the
filter right, oil sprayed all over the inside of the engine bay,
contaminated the belts, caused all kinds of problems.

it's your call, but doing work yourself can be a good thing.